On the Dock: A Tale of Grand Lake by Susan Vineyard

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

When Hadley arrives from Paris and inherits an old wooden yacht, she uncovers secrets that rock her worldview. An entertaining romp of a coming home story featuring Grand Lake, Oklahoma and its unique vintage wooden boat culture.

My Review:

This book started out slow. We’re introduced to a scared and lonely Hadley who’d just had her world rocked by the loss of her mother. Her father had passed years before, so she was now alone. She meets the very attractive Zane Bowman at the very beginning and isn’t too concerned about her attraction to him. She’d been brought up to believe love didn’t exist. Dalliances were a normal part of life for her. But the entire book couldn’t seem to make up its mind if it was a mystery or a romance until about halfway through. The first half of the book was consumed by Hadley trying to come to grips with how lonely she was now, hiding from any thought dealing with her mother, and fixing up the boat. Little snippets of information about her thoughts of her mother’s death would slip through now and then, but not enough for the reader to decide if it was a romance that might spring up between Hadley and Zane or if something shady happened to her mother that cut her life short. This book also slipped back and forth between Hadley’s and Zane’s point of view. Though his thoughts seemed to be as shady and confusing as Hadley’s.

About midway, the book seemed to hit its stride and really got moving. Hadley stayed in denial over a lot of things for a long time, and I’ll admit that bothered me. Then again, any female character who’s like that seems to get to me. It’s just a personal thing. I’ll admit I don’t know diddly about boats, and there was a lot of information about boats that went right over my head. Perhaps someone more comfortable with all of the terminology will take to the book easier. It wasn’t a horrible read by any means. I didn’t have any problems reaching the end, and trust me, I’ve been known to fling books across the room when they’re too aggravating. There is definitely a group of people who will enjoy this book, I’m just afraid it’s not me.

I do want to say that Susan did an amazing job portraying life around Grand Lake, Oklahoma. Her descriptions were also great and allowed you to see it with her. Her descriptions of what it was like to go zipping across a large lake in a fast boat were right on. Her portrayal of it was exhilarating and well done.